My advice would be to use both. The auger, convection fan, and exhaust blower on your stove all require power. Fortunately, their power draw is not so great that they can’t be run on a properly engineered battery backup. Notice I said properly engineered. Don’t cobble this together yourself. Plug your stove into a product such as the Surefire Stove Sentry, and the moment the power goes out, the Sentry switches over to a 12-volt marine battery that can last up to 8 hours. A battery bank can provide as much as 24 hours of operation. Both should buy you plenty of time to get the generator up and running.

When it comes to that generator, have an electrician install a proper transfer switch that connects the generator to the circuit on which the pellet stove is operating. Whatever you do, don’t use a down-and-dirty double-ended power cord from the generator plugged into an electrical outlet by the pellet stove, for example. Known as backfeeding, this can electrocute somebody or cause an electrical fire. Burning down your house is always an inefficient way to stay warm.

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